Why I don’t want to grow my business bigger

10 Ways to Grow Your Business

Things to Consider when Growing Your Business

How to Grow Your Business and Dominate the World!

Twitter is often filled with such headlines, linking to stories that promise to teach you how to make your business bigger.

Well, guess what? I’m not interested, thank you very much.

Bigger isn’t necessarily better.

I run a small business. It’s successful. I’m happy. My clients are happy. And I wouldn’t want to change a thing.

7 Reasons I like my business to stay small:

I am the copywriter people choose to use, so I am the only person doing the writing at Triple W Communications. No staff, no outsourcing, just me – Micky Stuivenberg – the person whose website you’ve found, whose writing style you like, who’s sending you the proposal and quote, who will liaise with you throughout the project and who will do the research, the writing, the editing, the proofreading and the consulting. Everything. WYSIWYG. True transparency. And I plan to keep it that way.

I have worked at various companies and organisations, and have no desire to go back to such a structured working environment. I purposely chose to run my own small business. I like doing things my way without having to consult or compromise.

My business is successful. I have not been without a project to work on (and usually with several others lined up) since starting my business back in 2008. Why would I want to change something that works so well?

Helping small business owners improve their online presence is very gratifying work. I don’t need to work for Fortune 500 companies or Australia’s biggest brands in order to feel important or accomplished.

I may not command the six-figure salary of a top copywriter but you know what? I don’t need to. I don’t lead a lavish lifestyle and I earn more than enough to make a good living and enjoy life. Living in regional Australia (no, not in “the bush”, I’m in the City of Coffs Harbour!) certainly helps keep living costs down compared to, say, Sydney, Melbourne or “hand-over-that-twenty-dollar-bill-for-your-coffee” Perth. 🙂

I like the flexibility my small business gives me. I like to take time off to travel and discover more of Australia and the world. And we have recently discovered the joys of house swapping. Decisions about putting projects on hold or declining work are mine to make, and mine alone, with no impact on anyone else.

OK, OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a control freak. And somewhat of a perfectionist. I know I can do a great job for my clients (they continuously tell me so) and I’m not messing with that. Why would I? It’s working.

So… I continue to do my thing and turn down work I’m unable to take on. Funny thing is, the busier you are, the more people seem to want to use you. “Ooh, you’re really busy? You must be good. I’ll wait two months.” (Really? Wow. There are plenty of other fantastic copywriters out there, you know.)

Of course, I realise “growing your business” isn’t necessarily about taking on staff, moving into a larger (or in my case, an actual) office or working for bigger clients. It’s certainly possible to grow a business in other ways. Let’s see, there’s no need to raise my profile further because I can’t take on any more work than I already do. There’s also no need to change focus because I really like what I currently do. So what’s left?

It’s been suggested I could put up my prices. I’ve done that before, and most likely will do so again in future, but now is not the time. It may sound strange but I’m not running a business just to try to earn as much money in as little time as possible. I really love my work, and client satisfaction is my main motivation.

So that’s why I’m not interested in motivational speeches and articles to help me grow my business and conquer the world. As small as my business may be, I feel I’ve already conquered it.

About me:
My name is Micky Stuivenberg and I run a successful copywriting business and web/SEO consultancy. My company is called Triple W Communications and my high-ranking Australian website is called Content Writer. I work for small business clients all over the world (the ones that I can fit into my schedule, anyway 🙂 ).